Native American and Settler Relations
Native American people had a very different point of view than the German settlers. Native Americans did not believe that anyone could “own” the land. The Apache and Comanche did not plant crops and settle in one place to get their food. Their survival depended on roaming the hills, and hunting and camping in a variety of locations where there was wild game to hunt, plants, and water. The Native people’s way of life was changing and because of the changes they developed a culture of war to survive. They used their excellent hunting skills against the settlers and could raid camps and ranches to steal things without getting caught or killed. Natives could “disappear” and were rarely seen if they did not want to be seen.
Ann (Mary) Schertz Becker, the first “white” child born in Boerne, grew up to tell many tales of early days in Boerne. One of her tales was published in the San Antonio Express in 1932. Here is what she said:
“ …the Hill Country was filled with roving bands of hostile redskins who were a constant menace to the settlers. They made frequent raids on the sparsely settled communities, running off stock and often murdering or scalping some settler caught off his guard. When a family retired at night, they had no assurance that they would not be butchered before the morning dawned”.
Most local tales of conflict with native people occurred in the 1860s and 1870s. Young August Theis was told by his father Phillip Theis not to go help a neighbor cut firewood on a foggy morning in 1862 because “the weather was favorable for a Comanche raid”. Sure enough that day the natives, in a raid starting at Wasp Creek and ending on George Kendall’s ranch, had killed five settlers. A group of men from town set out to locate the Native Americans but they never were found.
The Boy Captives
H.M. Smith and his family of nine children lived near Boerne. Like all early settlers, the Smith children had many encounters with native people. In March 1869, Clinton and Jeff were captured by a band of 10 Lipan Apaches and 15 Comanche while herding sheep near their home on the Cibolo Creek. The boy’s father first went to Boerne for help. The local militia, Boerne’s sheriff John W. Sansom, and a large group of Texas Rangers pursued the Natives 200 miles to Fort Concho in West Texas. At Fort Concho the soldiers and Rangers gave up, but a small group of the boy’s friends and relatives trailed 50 miles further.
Why did the band of Lipan Apache and Comanche capture the boys? It was a common practice that Native tribes would capture and “adopt” people from enemy tribes.
Mistreating someone once they had been “adopted” was considered evil. While it was frightening and scary for the settlers who had no way of finding their loved ones or knowing if they were safe or alive after they had been kidnapped, the Natives in turn felt the settlers could not be trusted and were horrified by how the frontier militia treated their captives.
For nearly over four years the boys lived as Natives, they suffered hardships such as hunger and thirst, played and quarreled, hunted bear and buffalo, and helped bury their dead on blankets strung high on poles, out of the reach of wolves. They traveled north in the summers as far as Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and the Territory of Arizona, coming back to Texas in the winters. They learned to raid ranches and settlements. In their wanderings they came in contact with many other tribes. In 1871 Jeff Smith was sold to Geronimo, the chief of the Apache. The brothers seldom saw each other until they returned to San Antonio four years and nine months after their capture.
Clint Smith was “adopted” by the Apache chief Tosacowadi and his wife Lepis. When Clint was about 16, he successfully escaped his adopted Apache tribe. After a difficult journey he reached Fort Sill, an army post in Oklahoma. Clint was so accustomed to his life as an Apache that he had great difficulty re-adjusting to his old life. Clint tried to eat the soap that was given to him to bathe and was not used to using water for anything else but drinking. Clint stayed at Fort Sill for several months before he was identified and returned to Texas with sixteen other captive children.
Jeff too was returned to his family after nearly five years. Jeff enjoyed his life for the most part as an Apache, but complained about being tattooed and having his ears pierced! Jeff’s father had to pay a $1,000 reward for Jeff, as he ended up in Mexican hands before being returned to his family.
Both brothers eventually married, had families, and became trail drivers and ranchers. They joined the Wild West Show circuit for a period of time, dressing up in buckskins and war bonnets well into their senior years.
In 1927, a book, The Boy Captives, was written about their experiences.